Sunday, 17 February 2013

25 Interesting Things About The World’s RICHEST MAN

He
might be called Slim but this guy is neither slim in size or wealth.
Enter Carlos Slim Helu of Mexico, the Superboss of all Billionaires.

1-He makes about $30 million per day (that’s almost N5 billion naira).

2-The
1st Mexican to top the list and the first from the developing world, he
is worth an eye-popping $78.1 billion. To appreciate this, he can spend
N200,000 every minute for the next 100 years before finishing his
money.

3-He
lost his wife of 33 years, Soumaya Domit Gemayel (see images on the
website below) in 1999 to kidney failure, and has not remarried since.
Their marriage produced six children (three sons and three daughters).
another is named Soumaya. He described his wife as the love of his life
and he learnt a lot from her about sculpture and painting. Their
honeymoon was full of gallery visits. (Try that with a regular Nigerian gal if e no go red for you…lol!)

4-First
named the world’s wealthiest in 2007 when he surpassed Warren Buffett
and Bill Gates, he has been ranked by Forbes to be the richest man on
earth since 2010. At a time, he gained $23 billion in just 14 months.
That’s like double of Dangote’s wealth -in just 14 months! Before he
broke the jinx, Americans were the world’s richest for sixteen years.
Something tells me Dangote may emerge the richest man on earth in a
decade or two.

5-Born on the 28th of January, 1940 in Mexico City, he is 73 years old and his parents were originally from Lebanon before migrating to Mexico.

6-He
is a Maronite Christian. Across the globe, Maronites number just about
3.5 million. They are called thus because they follow Saint Maron, a
5th-century Syriac Christian monk who spent all his life on a mountain
in Syria. He taught miraculous healing and Christian monotheism. Like
many other minorities in a wicked world as ours, Maronites have been
persecuted over time, with over 50,000 of them being massacred in the
1800s.

7-Interestingly,
the world’s richest man has some modest sides: he drives himself always
even though his convoy of bodyguards closely follow, he lives in a
not-too-spectacular six-bedroom house which for the past 40 years, and
is a mile from his office, a simple building. He says he doesn’t need a
bigger house and asks in Spanish-accented English: ‘What I do with a
house 10 times bigger?’ In a big house, you don’t see your family,
never. You don’t meet each other. My wife and me try to have this
family, to, ehn, to live together, convivencia, I don’t know if you say
that in English. What for you want a big space? What for you need a big
space? NB: Convivencia is the Spanish word for ‘coexist’.

With a beard. I think he’s cuter with the beard.

8-He
has no interest in luxurious superyachts or palaces scattered across
the globe and for most of the 1990s, he was using a plastic calculator
watch (it doubles as his calculator). He doesn’t indulge in designers
but confessed he has a weakness for expensive Cuban cigars and of
course, fine art. His arts are said to worth $6 billion but funnily, he
has a debt of $1.5 billion.

9-He
does not travel widely and has no home outside Mexico, something he is
very proud of. He stays up late at night reading history books,
especially about the legendary Genghis Khan and his art of deceptive
warfare. And he never overpays for anything. At a time in Venice, he
haggled with a store owner for hours just to get a 10% discount on a
tie.

10-He is crazy about baseball, supports the New York Yankees and has a vast knowledge of the games and player statistics.

11-He is unassuming and rebuffs criticism saying: “I
think sometimes when you are successful in business, you have others
trying to turn public opinion against you because they are trying to
compete with you.” He says
money is not his goal and becoming the richest in the world is not a
competition. He just wants to be a good businessman.

12-He
also said that he has no interest in being the world’s richest, that
making money is not his goal. He has a surprisingly simple strategy for
making money: buy up undervalued companies cheaply and build them into
powerful monopolies (why am I thinking of the Oracle of Omaha here?) Of
course, he enjoys broad support from the Mexican government and is a
good friend of the President (scratch my back, I scratch yours too!).
When the Mexican Revolution broke out in 1910, Slim’s father bought the
companies of his rivals who were fleeing the violence at very cheap
rates and by the time the dust settled, he was many times richer.

13-Today, he owns the largest companies not only in Mexico but in all of South America. One is America Movil, the 3rd
largest mobile network operator in the world, providing services to
almost 252 million subscribers in 18 countries. That makes him the
Adenuga of Latin America, which also brings to mind an interesting
thought: if Mike Adenuga of Nigeria can control all of Africa’s
telecommunications, he can easily become the richest man on earth.
#OwoBabaIjebu!

That’s the Big Boss. #Swagger. The piercing eyes of a battle-tested tycoon.

14-
He is also into mining, banking, insurance, railways, bicycles, hotels,
construction, drilling, airlines, tobacco, cement, retail, restaurants
and printing. Mexicans joke that he owns every cactus (a type of desert
plant) in the country. He also owns a part of New York Times, Firestone
and Citigroup (owners of Citibank). In short sha, he controls over 200
companies (he says he has lost count) and plans to replicate his success
on a global scale. Adenuga, buckle up o!

15-
He was taught business practices by his dad, and by 12, he had already
bought government bonds and shares in a bank in Mexico. He later
proceeded to the university to study civil engineering while also
lecturing algebra and linear programming (a mathematical discipline that
includes knowing the best outcome of an event, also related to the
concepts of maximum profit or lowest cost). He keeps costs as low as
possible. His dad (who later died when he was 13) also taught him the
art of book-keeping, record-keeping and how to read financial sheets, a
skill that would be with him for life.

16-
He owns the Carlos Slim Foundation, which built the $70 million Museo
Soumaya, a private museum in honor of his wife (see images in the
website below). The museum, covered with 16,000 pieces of hexagonal
aluminum sheets to reflect the sunlight, was designed by his son-in-law,
holds over 66,000 art pieces worth over $700 million and these include
works of Da Vinci, Rodin, Van Gogh, Dali and Monet. That reminds me o,
do we have a national museum in Nigeria with 50,000 art pieces? I’m not
sure, just asking. His foundation, found in 1986, has been endowed with
$4 billion and it focuses on health, sports and education.

The
Museo Soumaya which he built in memory of his late wife. It cost him
$70 million. Rivals say that the death of his wife has made him more
ruthless in making more money since business is now all he thinks of…lol

17-
Like other billionaires, he has come under fire and has been criticized
for being a ruthless monopolist (but seriously, can anyone become a
billionaire or stay one without being aggressive? Forget the baby face
of Adenuga jooor…lol!). His company controls 90% of the landline market
in Mexico while he has also been accused of charging some of the highest
fees in the world. His wealth is equal to 5% of all of Mexico’s
economic output in a year (it was 7% at a time). Now, that’s more than a
small slice of pizza. Critics say his domination has prevented the
growth of smaller companies, decreased labour wages and increased
unemployment where 50% live in poverty but he responds: “When you live for others’ opinions, you are dead. I don’t want to live thinking about how I’ll be remembered.”

18- His extent of influence is perfectly captured by the Telegraph UK: The
reach of his dominion is so large that the average Mexican will wake up
on sheets bought from a Slim-owned store; buy their morning bread from a
Slim-owned bakery; and drive to work in a Slim-insured car. They will
call friends on a Slim-owned mobile phone, lunch at a Slim-owned
restaurant, and smoke Slim-owned cigarettes. It is little wonder that
the country is referred to as “Slimlandia”. Well, is Dangote not doing the same thing to us? LOL!

19-
He is a philanthropist but when Bill Gates and Warren Buffett pledged
to donate at least 50% of their charities, Slim stubbornly refused to
follow suit (akagum aye..lol!). He said: “But
why half? Why half? I think it will be a big mistake that companies
like Microsoft, Apple, the leaders of the world in technology be sold by
the founders to put the cash to fund charities. They shouldn’t. It’s
more important that they continue to manage the companies.” He didn’t stop there: “(Bill)
Gates has to study how he can (fight poverty) in the same way that
Microsoft…succeeded in business, because charity has not solved the
problem.” He bluntly stated that he has no intention of retiring from business to focus on charitable activities.

“It’s
based on my conviction that poverty is not fought with donations,
charity or even public spending, but that you fight it with health,
education and jobs.” “Poverty
isn’t solved with donations,” he once said, stating that building
businesses is often more beneficial to for society than “going around
like Santa Claus.” (Do you agree?)

He also said: Wealth is like an orchard – you have to share the fruit, not the trees. With the orchard, what you have to do is make it grow, reinvest it to make it bigger, or diversify into other areas.” Me I kuku trust Naija billionaires, they will give they all they have to charity without blinking an eye…lol!

20-
He left control to his sons and sons-in-law actually run the major arms
of his business after a heart surgery. Talk of keeping it within the
family. That reminds me of Alhassan Dantata, the greatgrandfather of
Dangote and the richest man in West Africa told his kids shortly before
he died: they should marry within the family. So dude, forget that your
dream of marrying Dangote’s daughter…lol!

21-He
has no computer in his office and prefers to keep his records in
carefully-written notebooks. (I thought someone would die in this era
without a computer…lol!) He has a personal laptop but he doesn’t like
using it. He says: “I’m a paper man, not electronic.”

22-He
has been described as being avuncular and talkative. But hey, watch it,
he can also lose his temper quite easily. For now, he is still
untouchable in Mexico, and according to one government official: “When Slim dies, we can finally regulate his kids.”His kids also studied in Mexican secondary schools and universities and did not go abroad to get their degrees.

23-Although
Slim has many technology-based business empires, he agrees he does not
understand how the technologies work. When he was asked a technical
question in March 2007, he responded with courtesy: ‘Senorita, I have no idea what you are talking about’.

24.He has the largest private collection in the world of the works of French sculptor Auguste Rodin.

25-He said he learnt some of his secrets of spotting opportunities early by reading Alvin Toffler’s book, Revolutionary Wealth which
he thoroughly read, jotted down, heavily underlined and made comments
inside his own dog-eared copy. He is now very good friends with the
author. Many people today would rather perish in poverty and ignorance
than read or gain any form of tangible knowledge. Just saying.

Corruption: JAMB Now Collect Grants From Prospective Corps Members.

Some intending National Youth Service Corps members for batch ‘A’ 2013, have accussed officials of Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) of extortion before they could be issued admission letter.

The alleged extortion is said to be rampant in Enugu and Owerri offices of JAMB. The admission letter is reuested by various schools management as evidence to prove to NYSC that the intending corps member wrote the exam.

This came as the board’s office in Lagos said it did not have the technical capacity to attend to the prospective corps members.

It would be recalled that the NYSC in collaboration with JAMB issued a new directive that graduates preparing for NYSC must provide Unified Matriculation Tertiary Examination (UMTE) registration numbers before they are mobilised.

The officials were accused of demanding between N3,000 and N5,000 per person before attending to them.

A graduate of Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO), who was among several intending corps members who besieged Lagos office, told Vanguard on condition of anonymity that since Lagos office said it had no capacity to issue the letter, his last option would be to go to Owerri where officials of JAMB were demanding N5,000 for the letter.

Attempts to reach JAMB registrar, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde proved abortive as they was no response to several calls and text messages.

Vanguard that the 2013 batch ‘A’ list was released in various schools across the country last Friday with many of the graduates falling under NYSC error list which was attributed to the inability of JAMB to rectify the candidates’ registration numbers. For instance, at the University of Lagos (unilag), about 100 persons fall into the error list.

A check by Vanguard in the Lagos office of JAMB revealed that the many prospective corps members besieged the premises yesterday to get their JAMB admission letter only to be told that the Lagos office was not in the position to handle such.

One of the receptionists, (names witheld), said the Lagos office could not handle such inquiry as it had no facility equipped with students’ data.

She directed all prospective corps members to a directive pasted in the receptionist’s office which read that all those who wrote UMTE exam before 2008 should go to Abuja for their admission.

Well, she is gone but she has left us with the memories. Here are her traditional and church wedding pictures with Andrew Harvey,on the 2nd of April 2006. Her husband, a Senior Contracts Engineer in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. has shared their pictures in her memory. He says: ‘Memories of my Darling Wife. A few pictures of my time with Susan (Goldie) Harvey.‘ Rest well, Susan. You can view more pictures of their lovely time together on Andrew’s Facebook page where he shared it:

https://www.facebook.com/JackDaniels1959/photos_stream One of Andrew’s friends, Michel-Yves Scavennec wrote:Thanks to share with us these moment of happiness you had with your lovely wife. Let people know which woman, she was and not this rubbish stuff we can read. I am feeling your pain and feel very proud to be one of your friend. As i said, I love you as a friend, as a brother. Thanks to you and yours for all this moment we spend together.

The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) is delighted to announce the third annual SPDC Niger Delta Postgraduate Scholarship Scheme for applicants from Rivers, Delta and Bayelsa States.

The objective of the scheme is to provide an opportunity for qualifying students from the three Niger Delta States to further their education in courses that are relevant to the oil and gas industry.

In the three years of the programme, 30 students have benefitted from the opportunity to study at world-renowned institutions.

For the academic year commencing September 2013, SPDC will award up to ten scholarships for one-year post-graduate studies in partnership with three internationally recognised universities in the United Kingdom (UK) – Imperial College London, University College London and the University of Leeds.

Fashola Splatters Super Eagles With N54.5 Million Naira

Obviously, the naira rain on the Super Eagles will not stop anytime soon. My friend and I were calculating how much Keshi has received so far we were joking he will soon reach $1 million (N160 million). Looks like our joke don dey turn real as the Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola has splattered the Super Eagles (yels, this one don pass splash) with a mouth-gaping N54.5 million naira. They have turned many of these boys into Ndi Na Aga Aga (Happening Boys in Town) overnight…lol!

For winning the African Cup of Nations Tournament in South Africa, the green boys of Nigeria will share this huge sum. Well, the Governor did not stop there o! He also doled out a princely sum of N4.5 million naira to the Supporters Club for being behind the team gidigba throughout the whole tournament. That makes a total of N59 million naira, abi?

The Governor hosted the victorious players at the Banquet Hall of the State House in Ikeja, Lagos where he praised them for making the nation proud (and prouder). He also called on Nigerians to always support the boys. Governor Fashola then announced the breakdown as thus:

Stephen Keshi (Head Coach)- to smile home with N2.5 million naira.

Daniel Amokachi (Immediate Assistant Coaches): to laugh to the bank with cool N2 million naira each.

The four other Assistant Coaches: Got their pockets filled with N1.5 million naira each.

Each Super Eagles player- N1 million naira each (Omo! Football good o!)

Joseph Yobo -Got N1.5 million naira as per the Captain of the Team.

Backroom Staff of the Team got = N15 million naira (Osanobuwa!!)

Plus N500,000 naira each for each of the 11 goals they scored. This one will go only to the goal scorers.

Governor Fashola presents the Cup to the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu.

After this mouth-watering announcement, the Governor then reminded them to buckle up and gear up wella for their next World Cup qualifying game versus Kenya in June. He also implored them to fly the nation’s flag high when the arrive Brazil in June for the Confederation Cup. He also noted that with the spectacular performance, Super Eagles is now the 4th best in Africa and 30th on earth, and reminded them that they can repeat the feat of 1994 when Nigeria was the 5th best in the world. Yes, we can. Now, what do you think? Let’s hear from you.

RiRi for River Island? Fashion experts gave a resounding eye roll upon hearing that the oft scantily-clad singer had designed an entire collection for the UK fast fashion brand (for us Americans, think somewhere between Forever 21 and Bebe). But the singer was nonetheless given a full fashion week treatment in London on Saturday with a well-executed runway show geared towards "sassy, young personalities". But it wasn't enough to satisfy fashion critics as the collection was hilariously described as "Fright Night in Kmart", while MTV thought it "hit the nail right on the head".

The singer said of her designs, “It’s a lot of me. I’m being very selfish, I designed every piece so I that can wear it. I think my fans trust my style and I think they’ll have fun.” And she was right: Turns out she already has worn some very similar looks from other designers.

Say my name!It’s become a household term at this point—but have you ever wondered what was the inspiration behind Beyonce’s unique moniker?

No need to be mystified any longer. According to Bey’s own family, there’s actually a quite logical explanation. At Tuesday’s premiere of Beyonce’s biopic documentary, Life Is But A Dream, her maternal uncle Roland Beyincegave the scoop.

As you've probably already guessed by now, the name was a twist on Beyonce's mom's maiden name. “My sister Tina [Knowles] didn’t think we had enough boys in the family to keep the name going, so she gave Beyoncé our last name as the first name,” Uncle Roland explained.

Of course, it’s not an exact match, but we think "Beyoncé" has much more of a lilt to it than "Beyince"—don’t you?

Could Michael Jordan play at 50? His trainer is ready if he does

Michael Jordan last played in an NBA game on April 16, 2003. (Getty Images)

As Tim Grover walked out of the Hall of Fame induction speech four years ago, the observances of Michael Jordan's old slights, the settling of old scores, had already come and gone in the trainer's mind. All those years with Jordan, and Grover understood to always be lurching toward tomorrow with the game's greatest player.

"I heard that speech differently than everybody else," Grover said. Grover heard Jordan raising the idea of playing in the NBA in his 50s, and that was all the nod he needed to begin preparations.

"If I ever get that call," Grover said, "I was going to be prepared for it. And I am."

Fifty pages inside a binder sit on Grover's desk inside his suburban Chicago home now, information and studies and research and innovations into regenerating the muscle fibers and anti-aging advances and nutrition. From his trips to Europe and Asia and the Far East, Grover has incorporated a small library of intelligence – backed with the most intimate knowledge of Jordan's body and mind and drive – to create a program that awaits the comeback of all comebacks at 50 years old.

"There's no doubt in my mind, that right now, Michael is still the best player on the Charlotte Bobcats," Grover said.

Grover had designed the comeback programs from basketball to baseball, from baseball to basketball and back again in Jordan's 40s. In a book to be released in April, "Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable," Grover finally marches the public behind the curtain of decades of work with the likes of Jordan and Kobe Bryant, a riveting read that balances the illumination of the work of those stars and how it can apply to everyone else.

Jordan now spends his days presiding over the Bobcats. (AP)For most of Jordan's and Bryant's and Dwyane Wade's careers, Grover was the guy behind the guy. For him, everything started with his work with Jordan, whose trust and belief in Grover transcended Grover's credibility with the next generation of basketball stars.

For all the discussions about why Jordan left the NBA the first time for baseball after the 1993-94 season – the suspicions that it was a gambling-related suspension – Grover says that Jordan grabbed him after the '93 title and told him to start a conditioning program to transition him to baseball.

"He sat down with Phil, and Phil talked him into coming back for another year," Grover says. "But after that '92 title, he pulled me aside and said, 'I'm done. I'm playing baseball. I spent all that summer working on the angles of baseball, and understanding what muscles are used."

And after two summers in the minor leagues, Grover would get his usual terse call from Jordan, telling him it was time to get back to work.

"I'm ready to start training," Jordan told him.

"Baseball or basketball?" Grover asked.

"Basketball."

Looking back, Grover always wondered how differently that first season with the Wizards would've gone had those broken ribs suffered in a pick-up game had never happened. "That injury playing with Ron Artest really set us back, almost three months, I think," Grover says.

Yet, Jordan played well enough in those Wizards years to drop 40 points at 40 years old, and Grover truly wonders: Could he do 50 at 50?

That's probably asking too much – even for Jordan – but make no mistake: Grover is waiting for the call that may never come, because he believes Jordan is such a special species – such an unparalleled blend of talent and drive – that he could pull it off.

"His skill level was so superior to everyone else, his understanding of the commitment to the task so different, I absolutely believe [Jordan] playing again at 50 is obtainable," Grover said. "Of course, things have been diminished away from the game so long, but even with what's diminished by age, by not playing, I still think he's superior to a lot of the players out there now."

Deep down, Grover isn't so sure that call will ever come, because the complications of owning the Bobcats could ultimately make a return too intrusive into Jordan's business life now. All these years later, Grover still makes sure he incorporates every morsel of cutting-edge information and technology into the binder, because if Jordan ever reaches out for the comeback of all comebacks, he needs to know one truth will have never changed with the passing of the years.

Wizkid Makes Surprise Appearance At Banky W’s Lagos Concert

WIZKID AND TANI AT BANKY W’s CONCERT

Wizkid made a surprise appearance at Banky W’s ‘The Grand Love Project’ concert held Friday, February 15, 2013 at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos despite the fact that he did not have any specified role to play.

The 22-year-old Starboy who is believed to have left Banky W’s EME label, arrived venue of the concert with his girlfriend Tani, two hours after the show kicked off accompanied by a bodyguard.Although his presence was not acknowledged by the event’s MC, Sheyi Law and neither did he get a mention from Banky W, Wizkid sat through the show wearing an expressionless face before he made his exit towards the concluding part.

Meanwhile the show which has been hailed as a success by many had a lot of performers including Chidinma, Praiz, Lynxxx (with Banky W), Iyanya, Niyola (with Banky W), Bez, Waje, Sound Sultan and Black Magic.